Missouri’s 2010 November portion of the firearms deer season ended Nov. 23. Daviess County checked 2,087 deer. Of that number 933 were does, 249 were button bucks, and 905 were antlered bucks. This is up 208 from last year.
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Totals for the Northwest Region was 28,829 (13,194 antlered bucks; 3,375 button bucks; and 12,260 does). This is an increase of 2,657 from last year. High northwest counties were Harrison 2,425; Nodaway 2,395; and Linn 2,152.
Counties surrounding Daviess reported the following number of deer taken: Caldwell 1,311; DeKalb 1,141; Gentry 1,548; Grundy 1,419; Livingston 1,638.
There were no hunting accidents in the Northwest Region.
According to the MDC, 188,205 deer were checked statewide (77,549 antlered bucks; 26,321 button bucks; and 84,335 does). This is a decrease of 4,950 from last year. The record was set in 2006 with 235,409.
The top harvest counties statewide were Benton with 3,390 deer checked, Howell with 3,246 and Macon with 3,195. Antlered bucks made up 41% of this year’s November deer harvest, the same percentage as in 2009.
Statewide, the MDC recorded nine firearms-related deer-hunting incidents during the November hunt. Eight of those were self-inflicted. The MDC also recorded three falls from tree stands. One of the hunters who fell from a tree stand died as a result of his injuries. The incident occurred in Crawford County. The name of the hunter and details of the incident are not being released at this time.
"We generally had good weather for deer hunting and crops were out of the fields," said MDC deer biologist Lonnie Hansen.
He added that harvest numbers were down in southern Missouri and up in the northern part of the state.
"We expected that due to an abundance of acorns in the Missouri Ozarks. In this situation, deer tend to stick to the woods and not move around as much," Hansen said. "This makes hunting more difficult."
Hansen added that hunters play a vital role in managing the population of Missouri’s most valuable wildlife resource.
"Adult deer have no widespread natural predators in Missouri so hunting is the primary way to control the population," he explained. "Missouri is a great place to hunt deer."
Hansen added that deer hunting enriches the state and local economies and Missourian’s quality of life. "Nearly 500,000 deer hunters spend more than $750 million each year directly related to deer hunting. Deer hunting in Missouri generates more than $1 billion in overall business activity and supports more than 11,000 jobs."
The firearms deer antlerless portion runs Nov. 24 to Dec. 5. The second round of the archery deer season runs Nov. 24 to Jan. 15. The muzzleloader portion runs Dec. 18-28. A second firearms youth weekend will be Jan. 1-2.
More information on the 2010 deer season and on Share the Harvest can be found at www.MissouriConservation.org, or in the 2010 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet available at MDC offices and where permits are sold.